The following is a very short excerpt from an article called “Diversity at Brandeis: A real turkey” by Harry Mairson, which appeared in the Feb 2004 issue of The Watch, the Brandeis University magazine. It is a thorough dissection of the paradox of diversity at the university, and though it is concerned with the conflicting aims of a small school in a Boston suburb, it is representative of larger contexts and the reasoning presented here is no less devasting when scaled up.
The fall semester at Brandeis was marked by racial incidents which left students and faculty very upset. Were these actions of thoughtless individuals, or do they reflect deep-seated racism and intolerance in the Brandeis community? Those individually culpable must bear responsibility; the easiest, simplest, and maybe sufficient solution is to punish them as a warning and example to everyone, and move on. But the University administration has been additionally charged to address issues of diversity and tolerance, without merely casting bromides upon the troubled waters. What is the University supposed to do? What concrete actions should it take? Nobody really knows.
Fifteen years ago, someone had a concrete idea what to do. In the interest of—yes, encouraging diversity—Brandeis President Evelyn Handler oversaw removing the Hebrew letters from the University seal, putting “No classes” in the catalog instead of “Closed for Shmini Atzereth,” and introducing an “International Foods” line in one dining hall where you could get a plate of shrimp and black bean sauce. These moves were intended to address the need for a “character balance” on campus. Also created was a University Committee on Students of Color, formed to address the perceived difficulty of life at Brandeis for these students. At the same time, the University ran a “December Holiday Fair” which encountered various problems reported in the Justice, including considerable unease about a Christmas tree in the Usdan Student Center.
The consequent eruption of the greater Brandeis community was Krakatoan. The eminence grise of the Brandeis chaplains, Rabbi Albert Axelrad, publicly bemoaned the fate of Brandeis’ lost “Jewish soul”. For her ham-handed decisions, so laden with symbolism, President Handler got fired. She was run out like a Biblical scapegoat into the desert, cursed with the sins of her actions.
Then the pendulum reversed direction. In a significant symbolic gesture, Interim President Stuart Altman wore a kippah during the first commencement after Handleris’ departure, and in 1994, Jehuda Reinharz became President. At Brandeis’ fiftieth anniversary, Professor Jonathan Sarna, Braun Professor of American Jewish History, spoke approvingly of Reinharz returning Brandeis to matters Jewish, as quoted in the Jewish Advocate: “President Reinharz has been able to articulate a vision for the University that makes its ties to the Jewish community central to what the University is about. He glories in the University’s Jewishness.” Further quoted in a New York Times article, he said of the Handler era, “Brandeis was like a guy named Mendelssohn trying to pretend that he’s not Jewish. Once that came to an end, things improved quickly.” President Reinharz added in the Advocate article, “Brandeis is a microcosm of world Jewry, and this imposes special obligations upon us. We are seen today by the Jewish community as the think tank and action center of the Jewish community.”
The honest, straightforward words of Brandeis leaders are matched by commensurate actions—Brandeis puts its money where its mouth is. Banner investments of Brandeis, backed by millions of endowment dollars, include a large department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, a Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service (together having about 35 full time equivalent faculty, in a University that has about 200 tenured faculty), and an International Research Center on Jewish Women (now the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute). There are other similar programs and institutions I haven’t mentioned. A budding and inevitably pro-Israel Mideast Institute waits in the wings, with 20 million dollars already raised for it out of a 30 million dollar target. President Reinharz named Professor Sarna to head the search for an Institute director. I do not think Professor Sarna will have to look very far to find such a distinguished scholar and accomplished fundraiser.
You can characterize these commitments in various ways. You can call it the traditional focus of Brandeis. You can call it a well-run, consistent University with a carefully chosen set of priorities. You can call it building on our strengths. You can call it a good target for fund raising, on which the University crucially depends, especially during a capital campaign. You can call it tikkun olam. You can call it an academic extension of my Greater Boston Jewish family. They are all true. But you can’t call it a commitment to or an investment in diversity. Because it isn’t. It is the opposite of that. I’m not even sure that you can call it nonsectarian, one of the “four pillars” of the University’s mission statement.
See “Diversity at Brandeis: A real turkey” for the full article.
